Petros Efstathiadis
“PRISON”
Solo show | Photography | Part of Athens Photo Festival 2015
Opening: Thursday, 18 of June, 8 p.m.
Duration: 18.06.15 - 03.10.15
“PRISON”
Solo show | Photography | Part of Athens Photo Festival 2015
Opening: Thursday, 18 of June, 8 p.m.
Duration: 18.06.15 - 03.10.15
As part of the parallel program of the Athens Photo Festival 2015 CAN gallery presents a solo exhibition of Petros Efstathiadis entitled "Prison".
Full of clichés and yet set up in a way that overturns all known cultural and social stereotypes, Efstathiadis’ pictures seem simplistic in regards to the setup of the camera and point of shooting, yet complex in their structure and composition. Collecting materials from neighbors and people from around the area, objects in use and some other abandoned or forgotten in time, the artist composes surreal and often extremely banal sets which form poetic images full of information and emotion. Prototype constructions that rather imply than illustrate what their titles describe, distinctively elliptical as to their meaning, they reflect a number of imaginative scenarios set with a backdrop of rural Greece, characterized by a special kind of "Balkan" light.
Efstathiadis is a truly unique photographer whose artistic oeuvre begins when he decides to return to his hometown, a small village in Central Macedonia called Liparo and convert it into his physical studio. The village itself which is gradually reflected in the background of these photos does not have any hidden attractions, nor is characterized by any significant architecture, any landmark or any unique and scenic landscape. Instead, it stands like a blank canvas for the artist who uses it to set up his peculiar constructions. Narrative pictures, somewhat familiar yet bizarre, they bring to mind Emerson' s words that "though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."
Bio. Petros Efstathiadis was born in Liparo, Greece in 1980. He studied Photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey, UK. In 2008 he had his first solo exhibition at the Institut Francais d’Athenes entitled “Silent Village”. In 2009 he participated in the group show “Realities and Plausibilities” curated by Dr Alexandra Moschovi in Xippas gallery. Since then he has exhibited in various shows, most notably in Serlachius Museum, Finland, in Ego gallery, Barcelona, in FORMAT festival, UK, in the House of Cyprus and in the Greek Film Archive Museum in Athens. In 2013 he was awarded the first prize for photography at the Hyeres International Festival in France. Since 2009 he collaborates with various newspapers and magazines like Wallpaper, Monocle, Le Monde, Liberation and the Financial Times and since 2013 he holds workshops and lectures on photography at the School of Applied Arts (CEPV) in Vevey and at ZHdK University in Zurich.